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it was 'to make him a better senator.'
Right.
I hope this hurts his sorry ass.
www.wcco.com
Sen. Norm Coleman took a dozen privately funded trips last year totaling more than $37,000, visiting places from Armenia to Alaska, an Associated Press review found. Such trips would be banned under a proposal by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, led all Minnesota lawmakers in privately funded travel.
The sponsors of Coleman's trips included Minnesota companies; state and local Republican parties; think tanks; and pro-Israel groups, among others.
"I think these are worthwhile, positive things that make me a better senator," Coleman said in an interview Thursday. "For all of these trips, there is a good public policy reason for going."
The issue of privately funded trips has become a focal point of congressional efforts aimed at reforming abuses in response to the Jack Abramoff scandal. Abramoff, a lobbyist convicted of felony charges related to congressional influence peddling, provided gifts, expensive meals and golf trips to lawmakers.
Coleman made a point of distancing himself from that kind of behavior. He stressed that none of the trips were funded by lobbyists, although his chief of staff said that lobbyists probably attended some of the trips. And he said the trips were aimed at helping him become a better senator, not to play golf at expensive resorts.
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